"All have sinned"

I found this comment by Jonathan Gallangher interesting:

Sin is an alienation from God with resulting wrong actions.

Jews and non-Jews are under sin. This means that, whether people are religious or not, they are under the power of sin, and they can only be made free from this power through faith in Christ and through His power to save. They must admit they need help before they can find the true remedy, which is Jesus Christ.

Some illustrations that can be used for this week's lesson:

It might be a little too deep for most SS classes, but the quarterly did not touch the fact that all have sinned - past tense.

Paul didn't say all will sin, or all will probably sin, or all have the tendency to sin, or any soft words like that. He said all have sinned - a done deal.

However, the "falling short" of God's glory is in the present tense.

But there are those among us who teach that the "sin part" of the verse should be future tense, and the "fall short part" should be past tense. That's not what Paul wrote.

The quarterly just seemed to skim the surface, but the study help had some good quotes:

This matter is so dimly comprehended that thousands upon thousands claiming to be sons of God are children of the wicked one, because they will depend on their own works. God always demanded good works, the law demands it, but because man placed himself in sin where his good works were valueless, Jesus' righteousness alone can avail. Christ is able to save to the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us. {6BC 1071.5}

All that man can possibly do toward his own salvation is to accept the invitation, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." No sin can be committed by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary. Thus the cross, in earnest appeals, continually proffers to the sinner a thorough expiation (MS 50, 1900). {6BC 1071.6}

24-26 (see EGW on ch. 5:11). The Father Abundantly Satisfied.--The atonement that has been made for us by Christ is wholly and abundantly satisfactory to the Father. God can be just, and yet the justifier of those who believe (MS 28, 1905). {6BC 1071.7}

(Ch. 5:1.) Justification Means Complete Pardon.--[Romans 3:24-26 quoted.] Here the truth is laid out in plain lines. This mercy and goodness is wholly undeserved. The grace of Christ is freely to justify the sinner without merit or claim on his part. Justification is a full, complete pardon of sin. The moment a sinner accepts Christ by faith, that moment he is pardoned.

The righteousness of Christ is imputed to him, and he is no more to doubt God's forgiving grace. {6BC 1071.8}

There is nothing in faith that makes it our saviour. Faith cannot remove our guilt. Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe. The justification comes through the merits of Jesus Christ. He has paid the price for the sinner's redemption. Yet it is only through faith in His blood that Jesus can justify the believer. {6BC 1071.9}

The sinner cannot depend upon his own good works as a means of justification. He must come to the point where he will renounce all his sin, and embrace one degree of light after another as it shines upon his pathway. He simply grasps by faith the free and ample provision made in the blood of Christ. He believes the promises of God, which through Christ are made unto him sanctification and righteousness and redemption. And if he follows Jesus, he will walk humbly in the light, rejoicing in the light and diffusing that light to others. Being justified by faith, he carries cheerfulness with him in his obedience in all his life. Peace with God is the result of what Christ is to him. The souls who are in subordination to God, who honor Him, and are doers of His Word, will receive divine enlightenment. In the precious Word of God there is purity and loftiness as well as beauty that, unless assisted by God, the highest powers of man cannot attain to (ST May 19, 1898). {6BC 1071.10}

http://www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/10c/helps/lesshp03.html

This is a very important point that few grasp. Good works are demanded, but they are valueless. The only thing of value, in terms of salvific acts, is Christ's righteousness, not ours.

Nice.

How are we saved? The following is the clearest explanation for me:



We are saved as we perceive and respond to the love of God revealed at the cross. If we do not resist, God will do all the marvelous things mentioned here for us, bad as we are.

Sorry to stop your diversion here - and say so directly, but God's love isn't the kingpin of salvation for us as you have tried to make it appear.

The centre of the cross of Christ is the second death suffered by the Son of God in mortal flesh having been made sin for us. That Christ died for sin is the method of redeeming us from the death due sin. For us to experience justification and be saved by Jesus, we must die to self by participating by grace through faith in that death to sin of Jesus for us.

"Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." Love even in action by itself does nothing to save us: Christ's achievement in saving the world in himself was his meritorious life and his righteous death for sin, coupled with his victory also over the grave (Rom 4:25).

Christ's righteousness imputed to us by rebirth of the Spirit in the experience of justification by faith qualifies us for heaven & eternal life. His character traits imparted to us and personalised in us by the work of his Spirit in us fits us for heaven: a preparatory work for seeing him coming in the air, not a thing of value in qualifying for redemption.

It is our experience of being saved. Amen!